I just bought my first pair of brown captoe shoes. After wearing them at a wedding I see one or two scuff marks on each shoe. What's the common solution for this common problem? The noob bows in reverence....

Did you scuff an already polished pair? Just add another thin layer over the scuff.

This is how you build up a nice patina over time. Adds some depth and character to the leather.

The differences between Kiwi, Saphir, Burgol et al are miniscule. As long as you use a decent wax based polish, you are fine.
Grossly underrated are the differences between polishing brushes. I invested in some Burgol brushes for around 30 Euro each and found them to be a huge improvement to any other generic brushes I've used before.

Grossly underrated are the differences between polishing brushes. I invested in some Burgol brushes for around 30 Euro each and found them to be a huge improvement to any other generic brushes I've used before.

The goat's hair brush really delivers, after a few months of use I even don't need to apply any wax on the shoe itself to get a relatively decent shine.
However, there is still the 75â‚¬ Yak hari brush...

I don't use brushes. Just polish, 2 clean soft cotton rags, a little water (once had a lesson in shoe polishing in which the RSM said with a smirk that we would be learning how to spit-polish .... but an officer NEVER spits!) and sometimes a candle (to warm your wax-based polish. I'll use a conditioning cream when shoes are new or if they get seriously wet or dry.

Does anyone have suggestions for top shoe polishes to maintain our Lobb,Edward Green,Mantellassi,etc. shoes? It seems that Kiwi and Meltonian(owned by Kiwi&#33 are as commonplace as Dunkin Donuts and McDonalds.Are there superior products available without searching the ends of the earth?[b]

Collonil is a German brand that specialises in leather care. I use their top neutral cream Collonil Gold (water resistant) for my good English and Italian shoes and this has prolonged and protected the leather very well. I still get asked if I'm wearing new shoes, even if they are 5 years old with this stuff! It can also be used on leather bags as well as shoes, as it won't come off on your clothes or hands like coloured polishes can.

Collonil WaterStop cream is also great for wet weather (which we have a lot of in Sydney, despite what you might see in the movies), and comes in a range of colours for when you need more nugget on your shoe and neutral cream won't cut it (such as if you get a bad scuff).

This youtube video shows a cobbler demonstrating how to clean and polish a pair of leather shoes. He seems to know what he is talking about. He also mentioned Lincoln and Meltonian. Hope this video is helpful for our forum. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_rFXZ1oNSY

quick question for the fora. I've had pretty good luck with DIY shoe shining/antiquing.

However, I have a pair of AE Evanston (black) that simply will NOT take the polish. I know that one option is the fact that there's a good chance the leather is CG, but is there a step I'm missing here?

Is it just really dry leather that needs a lot of conditioner? Should I strip all poilsh off and generously apply Lexol?

heeeelp.

Have you tried bringing them to a _good_ shoe shine stand? Sometimes that'll help jump start a shoe that doesn't seem to want to take a shine.

Lexol or other conditioners can actually make it _harder_ to get a shoe to shine, so that would probably be counterproductive unless you give them a while to dry before shining.